Criticism of Sault lands OHL ref in hot water

A controversial tweet made by an Ontario Hockey League referee, apparently led to that official being replaced prior to Saturday’s Soo Greyhounds game at Essar Centre.

Joe Monette of Windsor, Ont., worked the Hounds Friday night game against the Windsor Spitfires here with fellow referee Ryan Hutchison.

But late Friday, at 11:34 p.m., Monette apparently posted the following on his Twitter account (@MONZY25): Soo Saint Marie, two words, Slim Pickens. #noteeth #hicktown #allfaties.

Scheduled to work the Greyhounds game the following night against the Oshawa Generals, Monette was not in attendance.

Instead, Hutchison refereed the game with Chris Carnegie.

Greyhounds general manager Kyle Dubas said he was made aware of the tweet by his staff on Friday night.

On Saturday morning, he received a telephone call from Conrad Hache, director of OHL officials.

“He (Hache) told me the league is aware of what happened and is handling it,” said Dubas.

Asked if that meant Monette was to be replaced for Saturday’s game, Dubas said he wasn’t sure whether Monette had been scheduled to work the Oshawa contest.

“But, obviously he didn’t do the game,” Dubas added. “And the other guy (Hutchison) did both games. I’m not sure of the particulars. I’m not going to speculate whether he (Monette) was pulled by the league.”

Asked whether he took offence to the referee’s comments, Dubas said: “It was an unfortunate thing to be said. But I wasn’t too upset about it. We had a hockey game to play. We have other things as an organization to worry about.”

Dubas also said he has confidence the OHL will handle the situation in the appropriate manner.

Attempts to reach Hache for comment Sunday were not successful.

At Monette’s home in Windsor, his father, Chuck, confirmed his son had been scheduled to work the Oshawa - Greyhounds game.

Saying his son was not home, Chuck Monette agreed to take a message requesting comment from Joe Monette.

A message was also left on Joe Monette’s cell phone.

Neither call was immediately returned Sunday.

At some point after posting the controversial tweet, public access to the @MONZY25 account was blocked.

The Hounds were 6-4 winners over the Generals after losing 3-2 to the Spitfires in a shootout.